A Summary of major Construction Projects

The vast majority of the work to improve railway lines, which impacts on the frequency and journey times info as per the journey guides, is completed over one Sat/Sun period.
So if you can't find a usual route or a train departure online, it can be worth having a look at the links to the national construction work, which you will find below.
You may then have to translate what you'll find, but it can be worth the effort to discover what's occurring and to glean whether you'll need to take a bus for part of the journey, or whether trains are being diverted.
Alterations to the usual service are often not particularly obvious when looking up the journey on a ticket booking service.

The information included below is a guide to the the more extensive construction projects which are impacting on train services for a week or more.
Therefore these are the projects which are good to be aware of if you're planning a rail pass itinerary and want to avoid any hassle, or are wondering why a typical connection isn't available on multiple dates.

These are the upcoming rail construction projects which;

• last more than a weekend, so also impact on Monday to Friday travel
• affect long-distance express trains
• result in trains being diverted, with longer journey times (which impacts on connections)
• Or, are being substituted by buses for part of the journey.

Due to construction work, all long-distance trains between Vienna Hbf and Wr.Neustadt will be rerouted from June 29, 2024 to September 2, 2024 .
This will extend the journey times and alter arrival and departure times of the trains on the Wien ↔ Graz and Wien ↔ Villach routes.

1: From May 18th in the early afternoon to May 29th in the early afternoon, maintenance work takes place around Rennes, so the Paris <> Brest TGVs and the Paris <> Saint-Malo TGVs will be turned around in Rennes

2: From November 9th to November 12th inclusive the high speed line between Paris and Avignon / Nimes will be closed due to signaling modernization work.

After 5 years of work without impact on passenger traffic, this very large-scale operation requires the complete closure of this line for 4 days. The circulation of High Speed ​​Trains will be modified, with these consequences:
• The reduction in the number of High Speed ​​Trains in circulation
• The trains which are running will take the classic line with a significant increase in travel time
• Certain stations on the Line High Speed ​​will not be served.

An overview of major construction projects can be found on the German language version of the DB website - so use Google Translate if need be.

1: Frankfurt (Main) Hbf / Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Fulda

Until June 7th work is being carried out simultaneously on tracks, points, technology and the overhead line on the route between Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and Fulda.
As a consequence end-to-end journey times will be extended by 30 to 90mins.

This section of railway is used by ICE services on these routes

• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Basel - Zurich - Chur
• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Frankfurt Airport - Mannheim - Stuttgart
• Berlin - Kassel Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Basel - Bern - Interlaken
• Berlin - Leipzig - Erfurt - Frankfurt (Main) - ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart - Augsburg - Munich/Munchen
• Berlin - Erfurt - Frankfurt (Main) - Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart

2: Frankfurt (Main) Hbf / Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Mannheim

The Riedbahn railway which connects one of the main hubs of the German rail system, Mannheim, with destinations to the north, is to be closed for improvement work in 2024 from July 15th to December 14th.
It is typically used by these regularly timetabled ICE trains, which on the usual timetable operate every two hours:

• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Basel - Zurich - Chur
• Berlin - Kassel Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Basel - Bern - Interlaken
• Berlin - Leipzig - Erfurt - Frankfurt (Main) - ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart - Augsburg - Munich/Munchen
• Berlin - Erfurt - Frankfurt (Main) - Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart
• Dortmund - Dusseldorf - Cologne/Koln-Messe Deutz - Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart - Augsburg - Munich/Munchen
• Hamburg - Bremen - Dortmund - Dusseldorf - Cologne/Koln hbf - Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Mannheim - Stuttgart - Augsburg - Munich/Munchen
• Hamburg - Bremen - Dortmund - Dusseldorf - Cologne/Koln hbf - Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Basel

More information is available here.

Also from July 15th the daily Amsterdam - Utrecht - Armhem ↔ Koln Frankfurt Flughafen ↔ Mannheim - Karlsruhe - Basel daytime service by ICE train will be permanently cancelled.

3: ICE trains at Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Flughagen Fernbahnhof, which is the station at Frankfurt Airport used by the ICE trains, will in effect be closed from July 16th to July 29th inclusive.

More information is available here.

4: On the Karlsruhe to Basel route:

From August 9th to August 30th, the route between Rastatt and Baden-Baden will be closed to rail traffic.
The ICE trains which usually travel between these locations are:

• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Karlsruhe - Basel - Zurich - Chur
• Berlin - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Karlsruhe - Basel - Bern - Interlaken
• Hamburg - Bremen - Koln - Frankfurt Airport - Karlsruhe - Basel
  An ICE train will run every hour from Basel SBB to Baden-Baden. Rail replacement buses will run between Baden-Baden and Rastatt.

5: Between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart

From April 1st to July 18th due to construction work there will be fewer trains between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, no long-distance trains will be calling in Pforzheim Hbf and Mühlacker

1: At Ayr station

On Monday 25 September 2023, a property was on fire near the railway at Ayr. Some lines through the station remain closed for safety reasons. Most trains are unable to run to, from or through Ayr.
A normal service is not expected to resume until Sunday 2 June, as a result until then, the trains between Ayr and Glasgow Central will run between Prestwick Town and Glasgow Central only. Some late night trains will terminate at Kilwinning.
The Glasgow ↔ Girvan and Stranraer service are suspended.

A half hourly train service will shuttle between Ayr and Prestwick Town
Replacement buses will run between Kilmarnock / Ayr and Girvan
Replacement buses will run between Girvan and Stranraer

2: Huddersfield ↔ Leeds

Network Rail is carrying out major improvement works in the Ravensthorpe and Morley areas as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, so until May 17th trains will not be able to travel through or call at through Dewsbury station.
As a consequence:

• The trains on the Liverpool - Manchester - Huddersfield ↔ Leeds - York - Newcastle route will be diverted on to a longer route.
• The trains on the Manchester Airport - Manchester – Huddersfield ↔ Leeds - York - Middlesbrough - Saltburn route will be turning around in Manchester Victoria station, so won't be serving Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Oxford Road stations.
  It will be also diverted between Huddersfield and Leeds, not calling at Dewsbury.
• The trains on the Manchester Piccadilly – Huddersfield ↔ Leeds - Hull route will only be operating between Leeds and Hull.

Also From 29 Apr 2024 to 03 May 2024 inclusive the scope of the work is extended.
As a consequence:

• The trains on the Liverpool - Manchester - Huddersfield ↔ Leeds - York - Newcastle route will be diverted to call at Normanton instead of Leeds
• The trains on the Manchester Airport - Manchester – Huddersfield ↔ Leeds - York - Middlesbrough - Saltburn route will also be diverted to call at Normanton instead of Leeds

3: Sheffield ↔ Stockport - Manchester

From 27 Apr 2024 to 01 May 2024 inclusive, work is taking place between Bamford and New Mills Central, closing all lines.
As a consequence:

• The trains on the Norwich - Peterborough - Sheffield ↔ Stockport - Manchester - Liverpool route will only operate between Norwich and Sheffield.
• The local trains operated by Northern, which usually call at all Hope Valley stations, on a Sheffield ↔ Manchester route will only operate between Manchester and New Mills Central.
• The trains on the Cleethorpes - Doncaster - Sheffield ↔ Stockport -- Manchester - Liverpool route will be split into two parts; Cleethorpes ↔ Sheffield and Manchester Oxford Road ↔ Liverpool, with buses operating between Manchester and Sheffield.

1: On the main north ↔ south route
On the nights of:

• March 2nd/3rd
• March 3rd/4th
• March 17th/18th
• April 6th/7th
• April 7th/8th
• April 13th/14th
• April 14th/15th
• May 4th/5th
• May 5th/6th
  from 10.00 pm to 6.00 am due to infrastructure improvement works on the Milano to Roma high speed route, some of the Frecce trains which use it during these times are having their schedule altered.

2: Milano to Domodossola
The route between Domodossola and Milano is being reconstructed over the next couple of years, so in 2024 the railway between Arona and Stresa is closed completely from June 9th to September 8th.

(1) The Dovre Railway Line has suffered storm damage in multiple locations, including the collapse of a river bridge.
As a result there will be no direct trains to Trondheim from Oslo for some time.
Here are the details of the alternative travel arrangements.

(2) Parts of the Bergen line are closed due to a freight train derailment outside Bergen on Friday 22 March.
For the time being, rail replacement buses are being used on parts of the route for local lines F4 and R40.
The rail operator does not know when the trains can run as normal again, but we will update the traffic status on vy.no and the Vy app as soon as we know more.

For the Oslo ↔ Bergen route rail replacement buses are running between Bergen and Voss. Unfortunately delays on the entire line both to Bergen and to Oslo can be expected during this period.
This is because the buses depart at the train's usual departure time from Bergen. ~
As the buses are slower than the trains, they are therefore delayed to Voss where the train waits for the buses.

1: Starting Monday, September 11, the transversal trains that connect Galicia with Catalonia will adjust their departure schedule after the summer period, remaining as follows:
ALVIA 621 Vigo Guixar (7:42 a.m.) – Barcelona Sants (9:35 p.m.)
Advances its departure to 7:20 a.m. Carry out the section between Ourense and Monforte de Lemos by road
ALVIA 622 Barcelona Sants (9:30 a.m.) – Vigo Guixar (11:35 p.m.)
Departure is brought forward to 9:05 a.m. Carry out the section between Monforte de Lemos and Ourense by road
ALVIA 625 A Coruña (8:05 a.m.) – Barcelona Sants (9:35 p.m.)
Departure is brought forward to 7:45 a.m. Carry out the section between Ourense and Monforte de Lemos by road
ALVIA 626 Barcelona Sants (9:30 a.m.) – A Coruña (10:54 p.m.)
Departure is brought forward to 9:05 a.m. Carry out the section between Monforte de Lemos and Ourense by road

2: Comprehensive renovation works on the Zaragoza-Huesca-Canfranc line, which cut rail traffic between Huesca and Canfranc until May 2024.
A bus substitution will be in place.

These are the upcoming major works on the railway lines, that will be impacting on international railway routes over sustained periods of time.

From July 6th to July 12th around 50% of the trains on the Paris ↔ Luxembourg will be originating or terminating at Metz station - and won't be serving at Thionville and Luxembourg.
From July 13 to September 15 inclusive no direct TGV INOUI trains will be able to served Luxembourg station.

The railway between Arona and Stresa is closed completely from June 9th to September 8th, so during these dates the following EC express train services will be turning around in Domodossola:
Geneve - Lausanne - Sion - Visp - Brig - Domodossola ↔ Stresa - Milano
Basel - Olten - Bern - Thun - Spiez - Visp - Brig - Domodossola ↔ Stresa -Milano

From August 10th to September 9th 2024 the railway across the Austria / Switzerland border between Buchs and Feldkich will be closed due to reconstruction work.
This is the route taken by the daytime Railjet trains on the Zurich ↔ Innsbruck - Salzburg - Wien - Budapest / Bratislava route.
The rail replacement services are to be arranged; presumably the night trains between Zurich and Budapest, Wien and Zagreb will be diverted on to a much longer route.

From August 9th to August 30th 2024, the railway between Rastatt and Baden-Baden will be closed to rail traffic.
The ICE trains which usually travel between these locations are on these routes:

• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Karlsruhe - Basel - Zurich - Chur
• Berlin - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Karlsruhe - Basel - Bern - Interlaken
• Hamburg - Bremen - Koln - Frankfurt Airport - Karlsruhe - Basel

An ICE train will run every hour from Basel SBB to Baden-Baden. Rail replacement buses will run between Baden-Baden and Rastatt.

From March 16 to April 4th inclusive
Due to track modernization work near Stuttgart, the direct trains between Paris and both Munich and Stuttgart will be turned around in Karlsruhe.

From July 16 to August 9th:
(1) Some TGVs on the Paris ↔ Frankfurt route will be turning around in Mannheim or Heidelberg.
(2) The Marseille ↔ Frankfurt services will also be turned around in Mannheim.

From August 10 to August 30th:
(1) In addition to the above works affecting the Paris ↔ Frankfurt services, during these dates the trains on the Paris - Strasbourg ↔ Karlsruhe - Stuttgart - Munich route, will be diverted via Saarbrücken and won't be calling at Strasbourg and Karlsruhe.
Travel times will also be longer.
(2) The Marseille ↔ Frankfurt services will also be diverted to operate on a Marseille ↔ Stuttgart route via Saarbrücken, which will extend the journey time by more than an hour.

From August 31 to December 9th:
(1) Some TGVs on the Paris ↔ Frankfurt route will be turning around in Mannheim or Heidelberg.
(2) The Marseille ↔ Frankfurt services will also be turned around in Mannheim.

Due to construction work, trains IC 310, IC 311, IC 312 and IC 313 cannot run between Szentgotthárd and Graz Hbf from March 23, 2024 to April 1, 2024; and from May 25, 2024 to June 2, 2024 .
Buses will replace the trains between these two stations.
The affected services includes the Wien/Vienna ↔ Ljubljana route.

Due to construction work, no long-distance trains can run between Linz/Donau Hbf and Ceske Budejovice from May 10, 2024 (approx. 9:10 a.m.) to May 29, 2024 (approx. 6:40 p.m.)
Replacement bus services have been arranged.

From March 30, 2024 to April 14, 2024 buses replace all trains between Arlon and Luxembourg between Gouvy and Ettelbruck (LU).